The Carolina Hurricanes ended a season-long three-game losing run Thursday night, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 thanks to goals and assists from Martin Necas.
In addition to Eric Robinson, Seth Jarvis, and Jack Roslovic scoring for the Hurricanes, Andrei Svechnikov recorded his first career four-point performance with a goal and three assists. Pyotr Kochetkov won for the first time since November 20th, making 17 saves.
Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin both scored goals for Colorado. In his debut start with the Avalanche, Scott Wedgewood saved 29 shots and Cale Makar got two assists.
With 2:11 left, Necas, who leads the NHL in points, scored a power-play goal to increase Carolina’s advantage to 4-2. With 16 seconds remaining, Svechnikov scored an empty-netter to complete the victory after Nichushkin’s second goal of the evening brought Colorado within one goal twenty-four seconds later.
Necas scored on the man advantage for the second consecutive game as the Hurricanes went 2 for 5 on the power play.
Takeaways
Avalanche: They had a history of winning comebacks, and there was some optimism for their eighth rally in the previous month. But there weren’t many opportunities aside from breakaways.
Hurricanes: Following a defeat to Seattle on Tuesday, the Hurricanes received the much-needed boost. It was a fantastic tonic to put 28 shots on goal in the first two periods.
Key moment
In order to keep a two-goal lead early in the third period, the Hurricanes killed off more than 2 1/2 minutes of a power play, including Colorado’s 5-on-3 for 36 seconds.
Key stat
Six of the Avalanche’s previous seven games have seen them let up four goals or more.
Up Next
On Saturday, the Hurricanes travel to the New York Islanders, while the Avalanche visit Detroit.
